talesofarcadiafandomcom-20200222-history
Barbara Lake
Dr. Barbara Lake is a major character of Trollhunters and a background character in Part Two of 3Below. She is a full-time doctor at the Arcadia Oaks Memorial Hospital, the ex-wife of James Lake Sr., the mother of Jim Lake Jr., and the current love interest of Strickler. Official Description "Barbara is the understanding, kind and protective mother of Jim Lake. She takes care of her son alone, because her husband abandoned her when Jim was only 5. She works as a doctor in the hospital of Arcadia, arriving to attend several cases related to Trolls. She is completely ignorant that her son is the Trollhunter, but knows that there is something hidden from her and worries that he may be putting himself in danger" History Backstory Not much is known about Barbara's past life, and it's unknown how she met James lake Sr. before Jim was born. Before his disappearance, Barbara and James seemed to have had a happy relationship and raised their only son, Jim, together. However, everything suddenly went off the rails on Jim's fifth birthday. When James walked out on her and her son, Barbara became deeply hurt by this, something Jim remembers well into his teenage years. When Jim was old enough to ask about his father, she told him that they just have to take care of each other without James's presence. As shown through several pictures (of Barbara dress in a graduation gown with a young Jim beside her) that she graduated medical school during Jim's child years, though it's unknown if it was before or after James Sr.'s disappearance. Over the years, Barbara and Jim managed to live a happy life together, usually always sharing stories and secrets with each other. Because of her hard work, Barbara barely has any time at all to work around the house. So, Jim decides to give her a hand and becomes the real caretaker of the house: waking up, cleaning, preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, etc. Trollhunters (Part One) One morning before Jim finds the amulet, he fixes up his mother's breakfast and finds her asleep in her room, tired from her double-shift. Later on after school, Jim catches his mother taking off to the hospital, having to work late again. Jim reconsiders Barbara that his history teacher, Mr. Strickler, wants to talk to her and tells her he loves her before she takes off. ... Trollhunters (Part Two) Barbara hardly makes any appearances, but has made a few minor ones. While Jim is journeying in the Darklands alone, Toby uses a Glamour Mask to disguise himself as Jim and hide his disappearance from his mother. After the real Jim returns, he returns home and finds his mother distraught for being away for so long. Jim suddenly hugs her, happy to finally be with her. While readjusting to his normal life, an over-enthusiastic Jim claims he missed his mother's terrible cooking and wishes her to never change. Later on, while Steve and Eli spy on the Trollhunters at Jim's house, Barbara returns from work and announces herself to Jim, who tells her to not go down to the basement. After Jim and his friends are sentenced to Saturday detention, Barbara drops her son off and takes off to work. Trollhunters (Part Three) Painting About two weeks after Gunmar takes over Trollmarket, one morning, Jim finds his mother in the basement, painting. He sees her artwork and notices that it was Blinky, much to his shock and worry. Barbara explains that she doesn't know what came over her: last night, she had a vivid dream and then woke up with the "urge to express herself". While she prepares to go to work, she offers to drive Jim to school, he passes up the offer and states that he promised Claire that he'd walk with her. One night, Claire comes into the hospital for a check-up. Barbara asks her what the symptoms of her cold were: she's been tired all the time, spacing out, and keeps hearing a mysterious woman's voice (though she doesn't tell her the last one). According to Barbara's tests, however, Claire is in absolute perfect health, despite the obvious condition she's in. She then suggests that it could be a case of "teenage-itis". A couple days later, Jim finds her in the basement, late for her shift again and painting more artwork. He finds paintings of Vendel, the trolls of Trollmarket, and finds her finishing a painting of Stricklander in his troll form. She then expresses her distaste for the way Strickler left without even saying goodbye, especially since her last husband did the same thing to her. As Jim leaves for school, Barbara begins to study her paintings and ponders about what they actually mean. At a cafe, she is on the phone with a friend. Strickler suddenly finds her and hides himself from her while he phones Jim. Barbara tells a friend of hers that, due to her constantly missing her scheduled shifts, the hospital decided to let her have a some time off. Strickler considers showing her that he hasn't left, but then remembers the promise he made her before her memories were wiped, and left her alone. Memories Return ... 3Below (Part Two) Two weeks following the Eternal Night War, Barbara is seen having dinner at a restaurant with Stricklander and AAARRRGGHH!!! while Douxie serves them food. At the time of Tronos' arrival in Arcadia, Barbara is seen taking care of all the baby familiars in Jim's old bedroom with the aid of Stricklander and NotEnrique. Barbara is later briefly seen observing Luug riding Stuart's taco truck across town. Physical Appearance Barbara is a tall, thin woman with brown-orange hair, blue eyes, and square glasses. Usually, when or after she works, she wears a teal scrubs uniform and a white doctor's coat. While she's not at work, she wears a white loose-collared shirt, black shirt, and black high-heels. Throughout the majority of Part Three, she wears a teal loose-collared shirt, brown-beige pants, and black flats (most likely because she gets more action scenes, like hers and Strickler's escape from Gunmar and the Gumm-Gumms). Personality Barbara is a very sweet and loving, yet a tough, stubborn, and somewhat ignorant woman. When Jim became the Trollhunter and kept it a secret from her, she became greatly concerned because Jim was getting hurt and wouldn't explain what was going on. When Jim finally explained, she made him promise that he would explain again after she got better (which he broke). Barbara deeply loves Jim and is always trying to make him feel better about himself and his life. Powers & Abilities Abilities * Medical Knowledge: As a doctor, Barbara is knowledgeable about several conditions and injuries. She even works double shifts at the clinic she's working at to earn better money for herself and Jim. * Martial Artist: As she stated by herself in "Blinky's Day Out", she has an orange belt in Krav Maga, being able to knock a human Blinky down with a few blows, as well as Stricklander with a broom (though it was because he was acting). It is most likely that she taught Jim some of her techniques, which he uses for his trollhunting training. * Artist: In the beginning of Part Three, it is revealed that Barbara is an excellent artist. When her memory of trolls begins return, she was able to paint Blinky, the trolls of Trollmarket, Vendel, Angor Rot, Stricklander, and Jim in his armor perfectly. ** Eidetic Memory: It's possible that Barbara is able to draw from just her memories of people and objects (especially when some were briefly erased). She was able to draw Jim in his armor, Blinky, Stricklander and others just from memory. Weaknesses * Mortality: As a human, Barbara possesses a mortal soul, so is therefore vulnerable to injuries, sicknesses, old-age, and even death. Relationships Jim Lake Jr. When Jim's father walked out on them, Jim started doing so many things for Barbara and running the house, which Barbara became concerned about. When Jim became the Trollhunter, he had to keep it to a secret from her so she wouldn't be worried about his double life. However, she became worried either way. Jim kept coming home late and was caught in serious trouble, like getting arrested and getting into the hospital. Barbara kept trying to get him to tell her what his double life is, but he chose to keep lying just to keep her out of the danger. Jim's secrecy only strained their relationship more. She finally found out after catching him and Strickler preparing to fight Angor Rot at their house. Barbara was concerned for Jim and wished her son didn't have to be the Trollhunter. Jim assured her it's his destiny to be the Trolls' protector, but Barbara wondered who would protect him. Before Barbara got her memory erased, she said she always considered Jim her hero and that he shouldn't worry about her and it's not his job to protect her, because she's the parent and that she wanted him to tell her about his double life again. Unfortunately, Jim broke his promise again, to keep her safe. Unbeknownst to him, she began to paint the events that happened prior to her memory erasing, snapping her memory back and revealing Jim to Toby and Claire's parents. When Barbara's memory returned, she confronted Jim on breaking his promise and his actions. Finally realizing how wrong he was for lying and worrying, Jim decides to let Barbara and the other parents know that he is a Trollhunter. After that, their relationship begins to restore, especially when she proves to be a big help in stopping some goblins. When Jim gets turned into a troll, he becomes extremely depressed and Barbara becomes furious with Merlin for convincing Jim to do so. When the war ended and Jim had to leave with the other trolls, Barbara and Jim shared a tearful goodbye, but Jim promised to call her every day. Claire Nuñez Claire and Barbara don't really interact with each other. However, after Claire learns the existence of trolls and begins hanging out with Jim and Toby more, she stays by her son's side. Later on, Barbara helps treat Claire from her mysterious cold, but her test results claim that she is in perfect health, to her confusion. Barbara often asks her what her son's been up to, but being his girlfriend, she tries to not betray his secret. Toby Domzalski As her son's best friend, Barbara has a decent relationship with Toby. However, she was quite crossed with him after he and Jim broke into a museum for a silly Tubby Tracker. Stricklander When Barbara first met Strickler she took a liking to him. Strickler was in love with her and Barbara possibly did so in return. She invited him to dinner, not knowing he's a changeling and enemies with Jim. After they battled without her noticing, Jim told her not to see Strickler again, which displeased her because he seemed nice. While Barbara liked spending time with him she always talked to him to talk out her problems with Jim's secrecy, she was unaware that Strickler was taking advantage of their relationship by putting a binding on them to keep Jim from hurting him. Draal also saw them kiss once. When Jim and Strickler teamed up to fight Angor Rot in order to protect her, she accidentally gets involved in the fight so Strickler helps Jim protect her and the binding spell gets her injured along with Strickler. They undo the binding spell to heal her, which would also erase her memory of Jim's double life. After witnessing everything Strickler did against her son, she bitterly tells him that she'd be glad to not remember him, confirming that she no longer likes him. She hears him apologize to her before her memory of what they went through was erased. In Part Three, she starts to slowly forgive Strickler and begins to trust him again after he reforms. She begins to help him when Gunmar tries to use him to activate the staff to start the Eternal Night. Her relationship with Stricklander grew to the point where they began to take care of the Changeling Familiars together. Blinky Galadrigal When Blinky got turned into a human, Barbara started hanging out with him, believing he was Jim's new guidance counselor. They seemed to get along well, especially since Blinky thought highly of Jim. Barbara became shocked to briefly find out that Blinky was a troll, yet she still seemed to like him either way. In Part Three, when her memory comes back, she immediately recognizes him and was very excited to see him again. When he and Jim prepare to leave for New Jersey, Blinky promises Barbara that he'll look after her son and keep him safe until they one day return, which she gratefully appreciates. Merlin At first, Barbara seemed mildly honored to have Merlin inside her house. However, due to his eccentric and seemingly uncaring personality, Barbara often acts a little hostile towards the wizard and showed mixed feelings about him. She was also quite crossed with Merlin when Jim permanently transformed himself into a half-troll, believing Merlin was mostly involved with it. At the end of the Eternal Night War, they are both seen at the edge of the cliff overlooking Arcadia together. Gunmar In "A House Divided", Barbara finally meets her son's archenemy in person for the first (and only) time. She was instantly fearful by his presence, but as a ruthless tyrant who is still not without honor, Gunmar decides to spare her as he saw her as a helpless human in despair, despite her being the mother of the Trollhunter. He uses Barbara to force Strickler into activating the Staff of Avalon and free Morgana, and promises to only allow the woman to leave unharmed, not the changeling. It's unknown if Gunmar actually wanted to keep his end of the bargain and kill them both either way after Morgana was released. Quotes Episode Appearances Trivia * In the books, it was Barbara who abandoned Jim, and his father was the single parent. Gallery Category:Characters Category:Trollhunters Characters Category:Supporting Characters Category:Humans Category:Allies Category:Females Category:Adults Category:Alive